DISCUSSION

Ascalon,
Gaza, Negev and Sinai

123. Gaza - (Gaza, al
-'Azzah)

A city on the coast of Palestine on
the route to 'Egypt, the last halt before entering the desert.
A caravan point of strategic importance from the earliest times,
it was constantly involved in the wars between Egypt and Palestine,
Syria and the Mesopotamian powers, and appears frequently in
Egyptian
and Assyrian records. Under Tuthmosis III it is mentioned on
the Syrian-Egyptian caravan route. In the El Amarna letters it
appears as Azzati. The Hebrew form is Aza, the Greek, Gaza.
The Roman city extended to the seashore, but modern Gaza is about
3 miles from the coast, which agrees with Arrian's account of
the siege of Alexander the Great. It seems certain that the medieval
and modern city stands on the site of the ancient one, though
the evidence of classical authors is not always clear on this
point. For about 350 years the city was under Egyptian rule.
From the 12th century BC it became one of the five Philistine
coastal cities (I Sam. 6:17) and appears in the story of Samson
(Judg. 16). Dagon was worshiped there (Judg. 16:21-30). It was
Israelite since the time of David but became Assyrian under Tiglath-Pileser
III and Sargon 11 (around 730 BC). In the 7th century it again
came under Egyptian control, but in the Persian period (6th-4th
centuries BC) it enjoyed a certain independence and was a flourishing
city.
Alexander the Great conquered Gaza in 332 BC after a siege of
five months. Belonging at first to the Ptolemaic kingdom, it
passed after 200 BC to the Seleucids. In the 1st century BC and
the first half of the 1st century AD, it was the Mediterranean
port of the Nabateans, whose caravans arrived there from Petra
or from Elath on the Red Sea. In 96 BC the Hasmonean Alexander
Jannaeus attacked the city (Josephus, Antiq. XIII, 357;
War I,87). The inhabitants hoped for help from the Nabatean king,
Aretas II (Josephus, Antiq. XIII, 360), but when this
did not come the city surrendered after a siege of a year. Jannaeus
slaughtered the population and destroyed the city (Josephus,
Antiq. XIII, 364). Under Pompey it was refounded and rebuilt
by Gabinius (Josephus, Antiq. XIII, 75-6). In the New
Testament Gaza is mentioned as being on the caravan route to
Egypt (Acts 8:26). Granted to Herod by Augustus (Josephus, Antiq.
XV,217; War I, 396), it formed a separate unit within
his kingdom, and Cosgabar, the governor of Idumea, was in charge
of its affairs (Josephus, Antiq. XV, 254). On the division
of Herod's kingdom it was placed under the proconsul of Syria.
In the Roman period it was a prosperous city and received grants
and attention from several emperors, especially Hadrian. It was
adorned with many temples, the main cult being that of Marnas.
Other temples were dedicated to Zeus, Helios, Aphrodite, Apollo,
Athene and the local Tyche. Shortly after the conversion of its
inhabitants to Christianity, under Bishop Porphyrius (AD 396-420),
all the temples were destroyed. It then became an important city
of the early Christian world and many famous scholars taught
at its academy of rhetoric, the best known being Procopius of
Gaza (born at the end of the 5th century AD). Gaza's church buildings
are important examples of Byzantine architecture. In At) 635
the town was conquered by the Arabs. The Crusaders repeatedly
captured and occupied it.
In 1966 remains of a synagogue were found on the sea coast south
of Gaza. Near it were living quarters and installations for dyeing.
Of the synagogue only the mosaic floor has survived. The building
consisted of a nave with two aisles on each side, broader than
it was long, and orientated east-west. In the western part of
the nave the mosaic floor depicts David as Orpheus, identified
by his name in Hebrew letters. Near him were lion cubs, a giraffe
and a snake listening to him playing a lyre. In the southern
outer aisle a further portion of the mosaic pavement is preserved.
The floor was divided by medallions formed by vine leaves, each
of which contains an animal: a lioness suckling her cub, a giraffe,
peacocks, panthers, bears, a zebra and so on. In one medallion
is an inscription naming the floor's donors and the date, AD
508-9. In style the floor is very similar to that of the synagogue
at Maon (Menois) and the church at Shallal. The same artist most
probably worked at all three places.

Herbert Donner (The Mosaic Map of Madaba, Kampen
1992, 75-76)
Ancient Gaza (now Gazza) is very often mentioned in the
Bible and in other literary sources from all periods of history.
The city was the most important political and commercial centre
on the southern Palestinian coast. Its large representation,
approximately half of which is preserved, cannot be easily explained,
mainly because only small tentative excavations have been made
there and because Byzantine Gaza is covered by the still inhabited
Old City, situated upon a huge Tall. The city is walled.
We note five towers, two of them flanking the southern gate.
The ground plan is of roughly circular or elliptic shape like
the Tall within the ancient city wall, very similar to
the representation of Jerusalem. Two colonnaded streets (cardo
maximus and decumanus) are shown. The main street
runs from the eastern gate (formerly Bab al-Halil to the
western gate (formerly Bab Maimas), its course is approximately
identical with present as-Suq al-kabir. The other street
goes from the southern gate (formerly Bab ad-Darun) to
a square in the very centre of the city, situated in the area
of present Han az-Zet and its environs. Obviously, there
is no intersection, as in the modern city: the street coming
from Bab ad-Darun does not lead to Bab 'Asqalan, the
northern gate, but disappears in the medley of lanes around
the centre. Directly inside the eastern gate we see another square
place with some kind of passage-way to the north, and leading
to a large semicircular building surrounded by colonnades on
its southern side, most likely a theatre, whose stage even has
the conventional three gates. If we follow the main street to
the west, we see on the south side a small domed building, probably
a public fountain (Nymphaion), and opposite to it a small square.
Another small square is seen on the north side of the main street
beyond the central square, or is it the beginning of a street
leading to a northern gate (the present street passing Han
al-Kittan or Suq al-Hajar)? In the southwestern quarter
we note two churches: a larger one on the left with a portico,
and a smaller one on the right. The larger one is probably the
main basilica of Gaza, built by the empress Eudocia around 440
above the ruins of the temple of Zeus Marnas (Marnas = our Lord),
the so-called Cretian Zeus, in Greek also named ho patrios
theos. The smaller church might have been devoted to St.
Stephanus or St. Sergius. There is, however, a problem concerning
the main basilica. According to the principle of inheritance
of sanctuaries we may assume that the basilica was situated on
the same place as the present Jami' al-kabir 'the Great
Mosque', the successor of the Crusaders' church of St. John.
But Jami' al-kabir is not located southwest, but northeast
of the central square. is what we think to be the main basilica
another church, while the main basilica was in the broken northeastern
part of the city?

Gaza was for centuries a very
important city and studies illustrating it are not lacking. For
example, a beautiful overall view is The History of the City
of Gaza by Martin A. Meyer, published in New York in 1907.
Discoveries and new editions of texts complete this information,
one might say, year by year. In discussing the Christian settlements,
we shall restrict ourselves to providing information on Christian
Gaza.
Gaza cannot be studied alone without mentioning Maiuma of Gaza,
its port. This distinction is essential because Christianity
had a different history in the two centers: first it developed
in the port and its environs and later in the city. In the latter
Christianity encountered many difficulties because pagan worship
was very strong.
The cult of Marnas, which appears for the first time in city
coins minted under Hadrian, was well organized in Gaza. Marnas
was identified with Zeus as a rain god: Juppiter pluvius.
It is especially this cult that challenged Christianity from
the beginning. The new religion remained in the shadows and was
resisted until the Christians were able to close the temple of
Marnas and destroy it.The Clergy. According to Dorotheus, bishop of Tyre, the
first bishop of Gaza was Philemon, believed to have been one
of the 72 disciples of the Lord and mentioned by St. Paul.But
the first cleric whose connexion with Gaza is known with certainty
is the martyr St. Silvanus who, during the persecution of Maximinianus
(310), was arrested along with about 30 other Christians, and
condemned to the mines of Phaenon, a place of atrocious sufferings.
At that time Silvanus seems to have been a priest who exercised
his ministry in the neighborhood of Gaza. After the deportation,
he became bishop but was soon killed. The first bishop of Gaza
was Asclepas who took part in the Council of Nicaea in 325. He
was a strenuous supporter of St. Athanasius. In the Council of
Tyre in 335 he was deposed on the charge of having overturned
an altar; but he was rehabilitated after an appeal to Rome and
the revision of the council by the Semi-Arians in 340. He took
part also in the Council of Sardica, in 342/3, along with St.
Athanasius. On that occasion Quintianus, who had usurped Asclepas'
episcopal see when this had been exiled, was excommunicated.
Asclepas succeeded in building an oratory outside the city. This
was referred to as "the old church" situated about
2 miles from the city to the west.
Ireneus succeeded him. He seems to have been able to erect a
small church in the city. Ireneau attended the Council of Antioch
in 363, and is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on December
16.
Ireneus was followed by St. Porphyrius who succeeded in 409,
with the help of the imperial family, in destroying the Marneion
and replacing it, with the aid of the architect Rufin of Antioch,
with the large church which was called the Eudoxian, as it was
erected by the efforts of the Empress Eudoxia. A Lifeof
St. Porphyrius is extant: it is attributed to his deacon Mark,
but many other later hands were involved in its composition.
In any case, the Life preserves some eye-witness accounts of
the saint's daring actions and of the reaction of paganism that
was slowly becoming extinct. Porphyrius died February 20, 420.
Other bishops are: Netoras, who attended the councils of Ephesus
and Chalcedon, and in the 6th century Cyril,who was at the Council
of Jerusalem in 518, and then Marcian who was at the next Jerusalem
synod in 536. To Marcian is owed the decoration of the churches
of St. Sergius and St. Stephen which the rhetor Choricius of
Gaza accurately described. The bishop also contributed to the
costs, as Ovadiah notes (RB 82 [1975], p. 553).The Martyrs. As in other pagan cities, some Christians
were martyred at Gaza under Diocletian: Timothy (whose body was
later venerated in a church near the city) and Thecla, both were
martyred in the city in 304.
Under Julian the Apostate, priests and virgins were killed in
362 and their bodies, filled with grain, were thrown to the pigs
(Chronicon Paschale, PG 92, cols. 741-42). The enraged
mob went so far as to destroy the hermitage of St. Hilarion which
was at a fair distance from the city, because, as Jerome notes
(Life of Hilarion, ch. 33; PL 23, col.46), with his miracles
he had played a notable part in the implanting of Christianity
in the region.Churches Erected in the Fifth-Sixth Centuries and their Decorations.
The description of the wall mosaics of the main churches
in Gaza, written by the rhetor Choricius and dedicated to Bishop
Marcian, enumerates the subjects represented; from the description
we deduce that these churches were similar tothose in Ravenna.
In the church dedicated to St. Sergius the propylaea.were ornamented
with sculptures and medallions featuring symbols of the Lord's
Passion. In the central apse mosaics on a gold background represented
the Virgin with Child and the saints Stephen and Sergius, as
well as a vine growing out of an amphora with birds flying heavenward,
and fruits.
The following subjects were in the central nave: the Annunciation,
the Lord's birth, the presentation to the Temple, the wedding
feast at Cana, the miraculous cure of Peter's mother-in-law,
the healing of the man with the shriveled hand, the centurion
of Capharnaum, the resurrection of the widow's son in Naim, the
pardon of the sinning woman, the calming of the storm, Jesus
and Peter walking on the water, the men possessed, the hemorrohagic
woman, the resurrection of Lazarus; then the Last Supper, Judas'
kiss, Jesus' arrest, Jesus before Pilate, the insults and the
Crucifixion, the soldiers near Jesus' tomb, the appearances of
the Risen Lord to his mother and the other women, and the Ascension.
In the dome were the figures of the prophets.
The church has this structure: propylaea or vestibule, atrium
with four equal galleries, a south annex for the bishop's reception,
a baptistry to the north, then the three-nave basilica with three
apses. The central nave had a dome resting on an octagonal basis.
The mosaics of St. Stephen's church featured in the apse St.
Stephen with a model of the church, flanked by St. John Baptist,
and our Lord above them. The central nave had matronaea and above
them, near the windows, a row of wild animals. The Nile was depicted
in the portico.
The structure of the building was as follows: an entrance preceded
by a wide staircase, atrium with four porticos, a south annex
for the sacristy, and the bishop's palace. The western façade
was the most monumental becase the entrance to the basilica was
on this side. The church had three naves but only one apse. Four
porphyry columns separated the prayer hall from the sanctuary.
A comparison between the mosaics described above and the mosaic
pavements found in the vicinity of Gaza inclines us to the conclusion
that the city had a mosaics school in the 6th century. The School at Gaza. The erection of these buildings and
their decoration indicates that the city enjoyed a prosperous
time. Also the school of letters, which flourished in that time,
shows the same state of things. Scholars cultivated neo-Platonic
philosophy and fostered literature. Some wrote also religious
works, among them Procopius (d. 538) who composed biblical commentaries
using the "chains" system, and Aeneas of Gaza (d. 518)
who wrote the Theophrastus or A Tract on the Immortality
of the Soul, and many epistles, of which only 25 remain.
One, addessed to Alphius the priest, deals with money business,
perhaps regarding the church; in another, addressed to the priest
John, the author intercedes for a young man accused unjustly,
and in a third to the priest Stephen Aeneas declares to the addressee:
"With your words you reform the customs of the citizens.
Thus, the mason and the carpenter today have something to say
about divine things and during their work they discuss virtue,
who before hearing your words used to chatter about blocks and
stones" (L. Massa Positano, ed., Le epistole di Enea
di Gaza , Naples 1962).
Other writers belonging to the Gaza school are Zosimus, Proclus,
the above-mentioned Choricius, Ulpianus, Isidore, Commodian,
and others.
An interesting historical document is John of Gaza's description
of a public bath-house decorated with allegorical elements of
the cosmos. At the center of the dome was a cross which cut three
concentric circles into four sections, each including a series
of symbolic figures of the heavens and the earth. The cosmic
cross and the three heavens alludesto God One and Trine, artificer
of the entire universe. C. Cupane-Palermo gives a detailed description
of this composition, illustrated with a sketch (Jahrbuch der
Österreichischen Byzantinistik 28[1979,] pp.
195-207). The figures represented were already known to the classical
repertory; but the artist, or his clients, adapted them to the
Christian conception.
The anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza passed through Gaza about 570
and wrote: "Gaza is a splendid city, full of delights, with
very nice inhabitants who are adorned with every liberality and
fond of pilgrims" (Antonini Placentini itinerarium, ch.33,
CCSL 175, p. 145).Some Citizens of Gaza. Many inscriptions, especially epitaphs,
discovered in the city and mostly found in the collections of
Latin and Greek religious institutions, acquaint us with some
persons who lived during this flourishing period in the city's
history. We shall recall some of them gleaned from the compilations
made by Clermont-Ganneau and Father Abel (Arch. Res. II,
and RB 34 [1925], pp. 579-80; 40 [1931], pp. 94-95 check
pp.). In the fifth century a priest named Ireneus, who died in
450, had an epitaph which reads: "Here lie the remains of
our thrice-blessed father Irenaeus the priest, but his spirit
is with God." In the sixth century we know the names of
the deacons Patrick, who died in 540, and Alexander, who died
in 570; and those of Zenon, died 505, Gerontius, Theodote, Anastasius,
Stephen, Abraham, and Theodora who all died in the following
years.
Probably from this period is a singular stamp published by Father
Saller (LA 21 [1971], p. 173), with a monogrammed name
that can be read "Samuel"; on the other side is an
abbreviation of the usual invocation: "Lord Jesus Christ
help".
Two contractors are mentioned on a stone block in secondary use
in a house: George and Thomas, who restored the city walls, possibly
in the 7th century. From the 7th century we know also Megisteria,
daughter of Timotheus, who died in 602; Anastasia, daughter of
John, and a few others. One inscription quotes the opening line
of Ps 23: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof:
the world and those who dwell therein." A characteristic
of some inscriptions is the representation of the cross standing
on a mountain top, in memory of Golgotha.

Christian Epitaph from Gaza
with the representation of Golgotha

One stone is particularly interesting
because it has the two words fos (light) and zoe
(life) monogrammed within a cross (Clermont-Ganneau, Arch.
Res. II, p. 416); these words refer to Christ, Life and Light
of the world, according to the Gospel of St. John (1, 4 &
4, 13) and have been regarded as apotropaic by the Church from
the very beginning (B. Bagatti, The Church from the Circumcision,
pp. 194-203). The cross containing this monogram is also
standing on a trilobed Golgotha. An inscription with a similar
pattern was found by Flinders Petrie (Gerar,London
1928, p. 26). Clermont-Ganneau (Arch. Res. II, p. 430) published
also the drawing of a fragmentary chancel screen with a bas-relief
representing a doe. It probably came from a church where the
balaustrade separating the sanctuary from the nave was decorated
with two does facing one another. G. Schumacher (PEFQS 1886,
p. 176) copied a fragmentary marble inscription at Gaza, but
he did not know if it had been found in the city or had been
brought from Ascalon. The fragment seems to be a piece of a chancel
screen with various names, of which only that of Callistus remains.The Early Arab Period (638-1149). Under the Arab rule
the city gradually went over to Islam and the Christian community
was reduced to a negligible minority subject to high taxes in
order to be permitted to exist. As appears from the Passio
of the Sixty Martyrs (Analecta Bollandiana 23
[1904], pp. 290-303), immediately after the conquest of the city
in 638 the Moslems put pressure on the defenders to embrace their
religion; but sixty Christian soldiers resisted. They were therefore
transported to Jerusalem where, having been encouraged to resist
by the patriarch St. Sophronius, they died martyrs. Their bodies
were buried in the church of the Trinity at Eleutheropolis.
About 680 Peter of Edessa was the Jacobite bishop of Gaza. During
a brief stay in Jerusalem, he could venerate the remains of the
Persian martyr St. James "the Intercise." Peter is
venerated as a saint in the Ethiopian Synaxary on November 27
(S. Grébaut, Le Synaxaire Éthiopien , Paris
1926, PO 15, pp. 549-52) because miracles took place when
he celebrated Mass. A Jacobite church dedicated to the Virgin
was still mentioned in 985 by the Arab writer al-Makrizi (L.Leroy,
ROC 12 [1907], p. 279).
There was also a church dedicated to St. Matthew; it was precisely
in this church, while Mass was solemnly celebrated, that St.
Willibald lost his eyesight, which he recovered only after two
months (Tobler-Molinier, pp. 268-69 & 292). This happened
between the years 723 to 726.The Life of St. Stephen the Sabaite - who came himself
from Julis near Ascalon - recounts that there was in Gaza a leper
whose family was all afflicted with the same illness, and who
had tried every possible means to be cured. Finally he asked
to be taken to the laura of St. Sabas and was healed by St. Stephen.
While the monk Leontius was writing the biography of the saint,
immediately after his death in 794, the cured man was still living
in Gaza and performing good deeds.
In 796 the monk Stephen, then living in Palestine, reports that
various cities were laid waste and depopulated by the Saracens,
Gaza among them (Acta martyrum Sabaitarum, AASS Mart.
III, p. 167). On this occasion many monks of St. Sabas met their
deaths. Among them was one called Theoctistus, a native of Gaza,
who was much loved by his master St. Stephen who had seen beforehand
the glory his disciple was to receive through martyrdom.
Muhammad ibn Idris el-Shaffi was born in Gaza in 767; he was
the founder of the Sunnite sect. At this time there were violent
conflicts among the various aspirants for governorship. The Byzantines
took advantage of this situation to approach the port of Gaza
in their ships in order to redeem the slaves, at the price of
300 to 400 dinars apiece.
In Oriens Christianus (62 [1978], pp. 144-57) J. Nasrallah
tells us about Suleiman al-Ghazzi, Arab poet and theologian,
who in his old age became bishop of Gaza. The author dates him
to the 10th century, but he does not commit himself on the question
of his martyrdom. Suleiman, having remained a widower, became
a monk and composed an elegy for his son who died at 20.
Reference is made in 1065 to a bishop of Gaza called Samonas,
who had a debate with a Moslem named Ahmed regarding the Eucharist
and whether it really was the Body and Blood of Jesus. Although
it does not seem that the exchange ended badly, the bishop was
killed by the Moslems. In PG 120, cols. 819-20 there is
a report on the martyrdom and on columns 821-32 the full text
of the discussion in Greek and Latin.
Some authors have maintained that the name is fictitious and
the discourse is a late falsification. I. Dick disagrees, and
considering that the exchange follows the model of Abuqurra and
that names are often transformed in different languages; he identifies
Samonas with the above-mentioned Suleiman al-Ghazzi (Proche-Orient
Chrétien 39 [1980], pp.l75-78).During the Crusader Occupation (1149-1187). On the Crusaders'
arrival the city was deserted and Baldovin rebuilt its walls
in 1149. However, a part of the city was razed by Saladin in
1170 and in 1187 he conquered it. Richard the Lion-Hearted's
recapture of the city was shortlived.
In 1173 mention is made of a Syrian bishop named Meliton and
a Greek one from the monastery of St. George. The Latins built
two churches: a large one which is believed to have been erected
over the site of the ancient Eudoxian church; and a smaller one,
dedicated to St. Porphyrius. No excavation was ever made to check
the antiquities but the churches are still extant. The first
was transformed into a great mosque by the Moslems. Clermont-Ganneau
had a plan and the sections of both drawn up by the architect
A. Lecomte du Noüy. Afterward no further work was done on
this project.
The church of St. Porphyrius is officiated by the Greeks. It
has only one nave; it can be entered from the façade or
from a side door which opens onto a modern gallery, equipped
with stairs for going down to the level of the pavement. There
are some cornices and bases of the Crusader period to be seen
but the other parts are later additions. The church was restored
in 1856.
On November 16, 1944 we saw an ancient capital lying on the ground
in the little lane which opens out into the large piazza in front.
The church dedicated to St. John Baptist, now a great mosque,
is only partially preserved; the apses no longer exist but the
doorway is still standing, as are many pillars.
In the middle of the 19th century, Father Bassi visited the mosque
"built with three naves" and reports: "On top
of the pillars we were shown an inscription in Latin characters,
but because of the height it was impossible to make out a syllable"
(p. 289). In fact it was a Jewish bilingual inscription (Greek
and Aramaic) in secondary use (SEG VIII, no. 276).Aly el-Muntar. This is a curious hill southeast of Gaza,
topped by a Moslem makam; for centuries it has been pointed out
as the place to which Samson brought the city gates. The lintel
of the doorway of the makam has two medieval sculptures.